Retirement confidence greater among men than women

Men are significantly more likely to report being confident or very confident about being able to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement than women, new research shows.

OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc., Indianapolis, discloses this finding in a summary of results from a retirement plan survey of 6,360 individuals, among them more than 2,100 baby boomers age 50 or greater. The survey was conducted by American United Life Insurance Co., a OneAmerica company.

Of those polled, 37 percent and 9 percent percent of men say they are confident or very confident, respectively, about being able to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement. This compares to 28 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of women who express confidence.

In addition to a gender gaps, the survey also observes a difference in retirement preparation among different age groups. On a scale of one to 10, where one is the least knowledgeable and 10 the most knowledgeable, significantly more respondents over age 50 score 7-8 (39 percent), or 9 (9 percent), than do younger individuals.

The average score for individuals over age 50 is 6.08, as compared 5.49, 5.27 and 4.92, respectively, for respondents ages 40-50, 30-40 and 20-30.

When asked which resources they find most helpful with retirement preparation, younger respondents were more likely to find calculators “most helpful” (61 percent for individuals ages 20-30 and 30-40), than those ages 40-50 (51 percent) or over age 50 (41 percent).

The survey also finds that most respondents learned about finances from their parents (56 percent), a significantly higher percentage than educational sources, including books (38 percent), a teacher in school (20 percent), spouse (12 percent), and another family member (8 percent).